Reviews

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Tracking in the Thenmala - Shenkottai meter gauge route

I had travelled in the Punalur - Shengottai meter gauge route previous year along with my friend before it was closed down for broad gauge conversion. That trip was done during the summer time. At that time itself I had decided that I would go for a trek along these tracks when the scenery was much greener. Some months after that trip the plug was pulled on the meter gauge trains plying the route and the route closed for conversion to broad gauge. The trekking through these tracks was always there in the mind but it didn't materialise till now. But this Aug 28th things fell into place and me along with two of my friends, Pramod and Pradeep were able to trek in this route. The original plan was to trek upto Bhagavatipuram but the trek turned out to be difficult than we imagined and also due to time constraint we could trek upto Kalthuruthy only. It was raining most of the time and the tracks were overgrown with creepers and plants making us very cautious where we put our feet. I was able to take some photos when the ran subsided from time to time.

To start with, Thenmala railway station

Scenery from the station

Look yaar, no tracks

Looking for tracks

Still looking

At last!

A small rivulet along the way

Pramod, are those yours?

Small bridge on the way

Foliage along the route

More tracks.

Signal post overrun by creepers

"Tracking"

Aqua Natura, any one?

Tunnel No:1

Approaching the second tunnel

Inside of the tunnel

The famous "Kannara" bridge

River in spate

We spent some more time on the bridge. Some more photos from the bridge.

Yes, there is a way somewhere there.

Some more close-up shots of foliage along the way.

The river was following us everywhere or was it the other way round?

The first station on the way from Thenmala

Some colour on the side

After some more tracking, we saw another bridge on the way.

The bridge looked small from a distance, but as we got closer & closer we realised that this is a dicey one to cross. It had no railings, the girders were full of rivets which made it especially tough to cross. In addition to that there was a stream flowing under the bridge.

Pramod stepped on the bridge and tried to cross it but the bridge was quite slippery and he gave up pretty quickly. A quick meeting ensued and we decided to end the day's tracking and tackle the rest of the trek on another day.